Mayor eyes educator for chief of housing

Kandace Bender, EXAMINER POLITICAL EDITOR

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 19, 1995

1995-05-19 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Shirley Thornton, a longtime San Francisco educator and former deputy state superintendent of schools, is a leading candidate for the top job at the embattled Housing Authority, The Examiner has learned.

Although Thornton has not been offered the $120,000-a-year executive director's position, she said Mayor Jordan has asked her to think about it and she last week told him she would be "honored to serve."

"The mayor thinks very highly of her," said Jim Wunderman, Jordan's chief of staff. "He has known her for a long time and is impressed by her administrative skills."

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Jordan so far has not interviewed any other potential candidates, Wunderman said, but added: "The mayor is interested in moving the position ahead. It would be of value to have someone in as a permanent director."

Finding a qualified candidate palatable to the seven-member Housing Commission and to vocal housing activists would help close a vexatious chapter in Jordan's tenure as he prepares for a tough re-election fight.

Thornton, the former principal of both Balboa High School and Benjamin Franklin Middle School, is widely respected in education circles as a take-charge, personable administrator. She is credited with establishing successful and innovative school programs.

Ran state programs &lt;

As deputy state secretary of education, she controlled a $4 billion budget for special education, adult education and alternative, at-risk school programs. She left the position after eight years when Superintendent Delaine Eastin was elected last fall.

Thornton's potential candidacy could generate considerable excitement in the African American community, where she is well known. Housing tenants have agitated for years for an African American director sympathetic to their concerns.

"As a black woman who has worked her way through the system, Shirley Thornton brings an insight the average administrator is just not going to have," said Cheryl Towns, a UCSF community relations coordinator and longtime neighborhood activist.

"She's very sensitive to the plight of African American kids and the kinds of programs that work for them. Everybody says that," Towns said.

Troubled housing agency &lt;

The 500-employee Housing Authority for years has been plagued by charges of sloppy management, low morale and arrogance toward the 30,000 tenants who inhabit the 10,000 public housing units it oversees.

The Housing Commission appoints the executive director, but the commissioners are appointed by the mayor and serve at his pleasure.

During his mayoral campaign of 1991, Jordan promised unhappy tenants he would dump then-director David Gilmore.

Two years later, Gilmore left for Seattle, and Jordan nominated Felipe Floresca, a mid-level manager with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Housing Commission approved Floresca, a Filipino American, over the objections of housing tenants who said they had been promised a black director.

Six stormy months into the job, Floresca, who many charged was inept, lost the support of Jordan and the commission. He vowed to fight to keep his job, but resigned in February.

Jordan seeks dismissals &lt;

Further stirring the waters, Jordan also has started dismissal proceedings against two commissioners - Karen Huggins and Jan Allen - who he says neglected their duties. The two are fighting the action.

The news that Jordan had met with Thornton already did not sit well with Housing Commission President Barbara Meskunas, who said she had heard rumors of the meeting but that the mayor had not spoken to her directly.

"The last action we took on this was to put out the request for qualifications," she said. "Under procurement rules, we have to go to three executive firms for bids on searching for a candidate and only then go about the business of looking" for an executive director.

"The mayor has said Dr. Thornton is one person he hopes the commission will seriously consider," said Ted Dienstfrey, acting director, who is a not a candidate for the permanent position.

Thornton, 55, says she told Jordan she "would be honored and willing to take the position if it were offered. He thanked me and said it was a difficult job, but I could be pivotal in it."

Jordan and Thornton have worked together before - both served on a gang task force under then Mayor Dianne Feinstein.

At least one critic in the Housing Authority voiced concern that Thornton had no background in housing.

But Thornton countered: "I've had to deal at a public level with all the issues that impact residents of public housing. I know how to be a voice that needs to be heard at the policy level."

Wunderman said: "The smart money is on finding someone with very strong administrative and analytical abilities . . . someone willing to make difficult decisions . . . and then surrounding them with people who know the housing side of things." &lt;